Hi there,
I’m an adult rerider who recently moved to the Houston area. I’m in a bit of a predicament, and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations or thoughts regarding my situation.
Me: Horseless, intermediate adult rerider.
Location: Centrally located downtown, and willing to travel up to one hour to ride.
Situation: This summer, I began (re)riding at a H/J facility that I really enjoy approximately 1-2x per week. It’s been wonderful to get back into the sport, but I feel like I’m hitting a wall in terms of learning new things and truly improving my riding.
Details: My stable solely has one school horse–and she is pretty limited in terms of capabilities. No lead changes, simple 2’3"-2’6" courses max, no showing possibilities. I don’t hate riding her, but I want to feel challenged and like I’m moving up. It isn’t just about jumping; my trainer also does not teach any sort of basic dressage/other skills–so on the flat, I also feel like I’m not learning anything past what I knew prior to stopping riding (basic walk-trot-canter, bending, extension, collection…not much else). I don’t think I would be able to afford a lease at my stable–and I also would probably not be able to make the time commitment to ride more than twice per week.
My Question: Does anyone have any recommendations for H/J stables in the Houston area that possibly have more capable lesson horses, or trainers who teach a wider foundation of english riding in their lessons? I know a complicating factor is that many of the barns I initially looked at were solely for leasers or horse owners. Or would I be better off doing something like taking beginner dressage lessons to supplement my current lessons? If so–any dressage barn recos?
Thank you so much for your time in reading this!
